This invention relates, in general, to wire saw machines, and more particularly, to a wire saw machine for cutting brittle materials wherein the wire saw machine has a supply source that supplies a plurality of strands of wire.
Wire saw machines have been in use for some time. However, these prior machines had a feed or supply reel which supplied a single strand of wire. This single strand of wire was then wrappped around a plurality of wire guides which were arranged in a group of three or four wire guides. The wire guides had a multiplicity of grooves to accept the wrapped wire. The wire was wrapped in a spiral configuration which caused a "pitch lead" misalignment on the wire guides. The wrapped wire thus was formed into a plurality of strands of wire and provided a web in a cutting or sawing area. Since the material to be cut or sawed by the wires was moved through the wires forming the web, the cut material usually ended up with a bow or warp in it caused by the pitch and twist in the wires. Another disadvantage with the single wire loop supply system was that if the wire were to break during a sawing operation an additional flaw resulted in the material being sawed, particularly if the brittle material was thick.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provice a new and improved wire saw machine.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wire saw machine wherein the cutting wires are parallel to each other and not pitched.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a wire saw machine having a wire supply source capable of providing a plurality of strands of wire.
Another further object of the present invention is to provide a wire saw machine having a single means for providing the back and forth motion of the wire across the cutting area and at the same time temporarily storing the wire used in the cutting action.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a wire supply source that supplies a plurality of strands of wire each under individual tension control.
Yet a further additional object of the present invention is to provide a wire saw machine having a reduced number of moving parts thereby improving reliability and reducing maintenance.